JACKSON21Adwb (4/21/2010, Riverside) FEATUERS Ashely Brawthen, a fashion designer at The Art Institute of California-Inland Empire, helps model Alicia Rubio with her hair prior to the King of Pop, King of Style program at the Riverside Convention Center on Wednesday. (David Bauman)

The Art Institutes, a nationwide network of schools that offer courses in everything from animation and gaming to interior design, has halted enrollment at 18 of its campuses, including locations in the Inland Empire and Orange County.

Anne Dean, a spokeswoman with Los Angeles-based parent company Dream Center Education Holdings LLC, didn’t say the schools will close although some have speculated they will wind down by year’s end.

“I don’t have specific information in terms of dates and numbers but can tell you that campus-based programs are being discontinued,” Dean said via email. “What we can say accurately is that the majority of students will transition to their chosen option for continuing their education by the end of the year.”

The move will impact nearly 2,000 Southland students and scores of faculty members.

Locally affected campuses include The Art Institute of California — Inland Empire and The Art Institute of California — Orange County. Programs at those locations are offered through Argosy University’s College of Creative Arts and Design.

27 other schools have already closed

The Art Institutes website shows that 27 other campuses previously owned by Education Management Corp., or EDMC, have already closed. Dream Center purchased 31 Art Institute schools from EDMC in early 2017. EDMC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in late Juneafter agreeing to $200 million in settlements surrounding allegations it misled students and the government with deceptive marketing practices, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Enrollment also has been discontinued at Art Institute campuses in San Francisco and Sacramento. But 12 other schools — in cities such as San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Houston and Virginia Beach — are still accepting students, according to the website.

Dream Center has cited an increasing demand for online programs and declining enrollment as factors in its decision and said it has been “evaluating the viability of certain campus-based programs relative to student needs and preferences.”

“As a result of that examination, we have made the decision to discontinue campus-based programs for a number of schools within The Art Institutes, Argosy University, and South University systems,” the company said in a statement. “This decision will redirect prospective students to one of our other campuses or our online offerings.”

The schools offer associate, bachelor, and master’s degree programs, as well as certificate and diploma programs. New enrollments are being accepted at the North Hollywood and San Diego campuses as well as online, according to the Art Institutes website.

Dean said displaced students can pursue the remainder of their programs online and will receive a 50 percent reduction in their remaining tuition for that option. There is also the possibility to receive a $5,000 tuition grant to transfer to an unaffiliated “partner institution,” although a list of those schools is not yet available.

Dean didn’t reveal the student/faculty counts at the three impacted Southern California locations. But figures from the National Center for Education Statistics show the Inland Empire school, at 674 E. Brier Dr., San Bernardino, had 1,100 students, 22 full-time and 74 part-time faculty members, and the Orange County campus, at 3601 W. Sunflower Ave., Santa Ana, had 771 students and 14 full-time and 62 part-time faculty members.

This story has been updated because of incorrect information posted on The Art Institutes website. The listing of schools no longer accepting enrollments had initially included the Hollywood campus. But on Monday parent company Dream Center Education Holdings LLC said that location continues to accept new enrollments.

Kevin Smith handles business news and editing for the Southern California News Group, which includes 11 newspapers, websites and social media channels. He covers everything from employment, technology and housing to retail, corporate mergers and business-based apps. Kevin often writes stories that highlight the local impact of trends occurring nationwide. And the focus is always to shed light on why those issues matter to readers in Southern California.